Bowling ball decelerator

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for decelerating bowling balls on ball return track systems by snubbing them with the aid of resilient leather belts under tension are widely used. The invention disclosed herein is of an improved apparatus for use in decelerating bowling balls on ball return track systems. The improvement comprises employing as the belt component, a resilient but stiff belt fabricated to offer greater frictional surface than prior art belts and having an inside arc smaller than the arc defined by the balls to be snubbed, thereby to grip the moving balls in a pincer-like grip. The improved apparatus of the invention is more efficient, requires less maintenance, has a longer life and offers economic advantages over prior art devices.

United States Patent 1 1 1 3,899,171

Haller Au 12, 1975 BOWLING BALL DECELERATOR [75] Inventor: Herbert C. I-Ialler, Newtonville, Prlmary Exammer p,mton Oechsl? NY Attorney, Agent, or Fzrm--Kane, Dalsimer, Kane,

Sullivan and Kurucz [73] Assignee' Albany International Corporation,

Albany, NY. [57] ABSTRACT 22 Filed; June 17 1974 Apparatus for decelerating bowling balls on ball return track systems by snubbing them with the aid of [2]] Appl- 479,790 resilient leather belts under tension are widely used.

The invention disclosed herein is of an improved ap- 52 Us. (:1. 273/47; 161/125; 273/DIG. 6; Paretus for use in decelerating bowling balls on ball 131 8 return track systems. The improvement comprises em- 51 Int. Cl A63d 5/02 p y as the belt component, a resilient u Stiff belt 53 Fie|d f Search 273/47 49 3 5 fabricated to offer greater frictional surface than prior 273/DIG. 8, DIG. 6, DIG. 9, DIG. 10; 161/125 art belts and having an inside are smaller than the arc defined by the balls to be snubbed, thereby to grip the [56] References Cited moving balls in a pincer-like grip. The improved appa- UNITED STATES PATENTS ratus of the invention is more efficient, requires less 3 015 48 9 J t l 273/47 maintenance, has a longer life and offers economic ad- 33040s7 2/1967 11:. 273/47 vantages over prior art devices 3,468,537 9/ 1969 Webb 273/49 7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEU AUG 1 2 I975 SHEET PATENTEU AUG] 21975 FIG. 5

FIG. 4

BOWLING BALL DECELERATOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention concerns recreational apparatus for returning bowling balls to the players end of a bowling alley and more particularly concerns an improvement in the ball checking or decelerating component of such apparatus.

2. Brief Description of the Prior Art A widely employed commercial means of checking the velocity of a bowling ball travelling on the return track system of a bowling alley is to snub the ball between a frictional surface and a tensioned belt just prior to its entry into the ball storage area of an alley. Representative of the prior art apparatus is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,489. The prior art belt components of such apparatus has heretofore generally been a flat belt and, more particularly a flat leather belt which presents a resilient flat frictional surface for contact with the moving ball.

Generally, the prior art apparatus requires continual adjusting of the tensioned belt to maintain a proper tension. If the tension adjustment is too slack, the travelling ball will be insufficiently snubbed and may enter the storage area at a velocity conducive to damaging the ball, other equipment, or even causing injury to players and spectators. On the other hand, if the tension is excessive, the travelling ball may be blocked from entry into the storage area. Where the bowling ball return track system includes a rising or ascending portion of trackway as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,489, the blocked ball may fall back to the lower portion of the return track. When this occurs, play on the alley is stopped and the trackway must be uncovered to permit manual recovery of the ball and manual removal to the storage area. This is, of course inefficient.

Experience has also shown that even when the tension is constantly adjusted so as to maintain a proper tension, a fairly high percentage of balls will fail to pass into the storage area and will fall back to the lower portions of the return runways. Average estimates of such malfunctions have been set at around one for every 60 to 80 ball returns. The average number of ball return malfunctions also tends to increase with the length of service of a given leather belt. They generally must be replaced completely with a new belt after snubbing circa 200,000 ball returns.

By my invention, the belt component of the snubbing device does not require continual tension adjustments, and in operation has successfully snubbed over 200,000 balls without blocking entry of a ball into the storage area. The decelerations have been made with out allowing a single ball to fall back onto the lower portions of the return track of a system like that of U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,489 and without requiring replacement or further te'nsion adjustment of the belt component after initial installation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention comprises in an apparatus for decelerating a bowling ball travelling on a ball return track system by snubbing the ball between a ball engaging surface and a tensioned belt member, the improvement which comprises; said belt member having a ball contacting surface which defines the inside arc of a circle having a circumference smaller than 26.704 inches when said belt is in its normal state, and which defines an arc conforming to the arc of a circle having a circumference of from 26.704 to 27.002 inches when functioning to snub said bowling ball.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an exposed ball checking portion of a bowling ball return system showing the improvement of this invention in place.

FIG. 2 is an overall view of an improved belt component of the invention as employed in the improved apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along lines 3-3 of FIG. 2 and shows the position of the improved belt in relation to a bowling ball at initial contact.

FIG. 5 is a view as seen in FIG. 4 but following full surface contact between belt and bowling ball.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An understanding of the invention is conveniently obtained by referring to those embodiments more specifically set forth in the accompanying drawings.

Referring first to FIG. 1, a schematic view of an exposed ball-checking portion of a bowling ball return system, there is seen a ball return track 10 generally located beneath the surface of an alley 12. There is an ascending portion 14 of track 10 for guiding the moving ball up to an upper level track 16 which is above the alley surface 12 and which leads to a ball storage area (not shown in FIG. 1). The bowling ball 18 after being thrown by a player is deposited on track 10 at the pin area (not shown) and accelerated to travel on track 10 at considerable velocity. When the ball 18 reaches the ascending track portion 14, its velocity carries it up track portion 14 for entry on to upper track 16. In the absence of any means for checking the velocity of the ball 18 prior to its entry on upper track 16, the transition to track 16 would normally prove to be uncontrollable. This unchecked velocity is a potential hazard in that the speeding ball may cause damage to equipment, itself, other balls in the storage area and may even cause an injury to nearby players and spectators. The prior art conventional means of checking or decelerating the returning ball 18 is to snub it with a resilient flat belt and gently move it onward with an assist from a rotating frictional surface.

FIG. 1 shows a representative means of decelerating the bowling ball 18 at the peak of ascending track 14 which is contained in housing 20 and comprises a belt 22 mounted on shackle pins 24 and 26. The belt is tensioned by spring 28 having one end connected to belt 22 through attachment with shackle pin 26 pulling belt 22 over roller 25, and one end anchored at end 30 of holding plate 36. Belt 22 is mounted in position over ascending track portion 14 so that the rolling ball 18 contacts belt 22 and is snubbed by belt 22 forcing the ball 18 against wheel 32. Wheel 32 bridges ascending track portion 14 and upper track 16. Wheel 32 is generally powered to rotate slowly in the direction the ball is travelling. As the velocity of ball 18 is checked and the ball decelerated, the rotary movement of wheel 32, which has a frictional surface 34, gently moves the ball 18 onto upper track 16 and out of the housing 20. The

belt 22 is resiliently mounted to permit passage of ball 18 between belt 22 and wheel 32, as a consequence of its being mounted through upper shackle pin 24 to a pivotable rod 36 mounted on the housing. The belt 22 itself generally has a desirable resiliency.

The belt components 22 employed heretofore have been generally flat, leather belts. As shown in FIG. 1, the belt employed in the improved apparatus is shaped to have an arcuate cross-sectional portion at its ball contacting surface. Details of belt 22 are seen more conveniently in FIG. 2, an overall view of belt 22 as seen from the underside, exposing bottom surface 40, edges 42 and ends 44 and 46. Ends 44 and 46 are formed by folding the terminal ends back and stapling with staples 41 as shown in FIG. 2 to the body of belt 22 so as to form tubes 48 and 50. Tubes 48 and 50 receive shackle pins 24 and 26 so as to form therewith a means of attaching belt 22 to the belt tensioning means previously described and which passes through apertures 45. The means of attachment is not, of course, critical to the invention, and any conventional means of mounting belt 22 in the ball return system is acceptable. Intermediate to ends 44 and 46 is the arcuate, frictional surface 52 for contacting the bowling ball as previously described.

Belt 22, according to the invention, may be fabricated from any material which is stiff and will hold the desired shape, but which is resilient enough for the arc portion to be extensile. Advantageously, the material employed will be highly durable, stiff but resilient and will be characterized by elasticity, shrink resistance and its rapid recoverability of shape and dimensions when a means of deformation is applied to the belt and then removed. Illustrative of materials which may be employed are molded polymeric elastomers such as polyurethane elastomers, polyolefin elastomers, polybutadiene elastomers, copolymer blends such as copolymers of acrylonitrile-butadiene and styrene, particularly acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer blends containing rubber fillers and like elastomeric materials.

Preferred materials for fabricating belt 22 according to the invention are textile belts, saturated with polymeric resins to stiffen and harden the textile in the desired shape. For example, a synthetic textile fabric or a fabric composed of wool blended with synthetic yarns may be employed as the base fabric. Illustrative of synthetic textile fabrics are woven fabrics of nylon, polyester, acrylics, polypropylene and like yarns wherein the specific yarn has the desired characteristics of resilience, shrink resistance and elasticity. Textile fabrics of woven nylon are particularly preferred fabrics. The particular weave employed is not critical, but in genera], the most advantageous weaves are relatively tight weaves such as a grid weave, which will permit saturation with a liquid polymeric resin.

Particulary preferred belts 22 because of their resilience, hydrolytic stability, elasticity and recoverability are those fabricated from a textile comprising a base structure of woven resilient, hydrolytically stable and elastic mono-or multi-filament yarns such as a nylon and a surface layer which is a web of synthetic fibers having similar properties of resilience, elasticity, shrink resistance, recoverability and hydrolytic stability such as nylon fibers. The base structure and the surface layer are integrated into a unitary fabric by needling the two components together. Such composite fabrics are well known as are their preparation; see for example British Pat. No. 1,220,531 which discloses a textile fabric found to be particularly advantageous in the fabrication of the belt 22. This preferred textile is prepared by needling a bat of synthetic fibers such as nylon fibers or a blend of wool fibers with synthetic fibers into the outer surface of a two layered fabric. The outer layer is a weft layer and an inner layer is also a weft layer. Interwoven with the weft layers are warp threads. This preferred belt 22 is shown more clearly in FIG. 3, an enlarged cross-sectional view along lines 33 of FIG. 2. Thus, there is seen in FIG. 3 a belt structure comprising threads 61 and 62 extending in the same direction to comprise the weft of the fabric while the yarns 63 inter-woven with said weft yarns 61 and 62 comprise the warp. The fabric comprises two layers, a lower weft layer 65 distal from surface 64 and an upper weft layer 66 proximal to top surface 64. The yarns 61 of the lower layer 65 may comprise threads spun of (a) synthetic staple fibers, (b) multi-filament yarns, or (c) blends of multi-filament yarns with synthetic staple fibers while the other yarns 62 comprise mono-filaments. The yarns 61 of the lower layer 65 advantageously comprise synthetic staple fibers of from about 3 to about 15 denier. The yarns 62 advantageously have a diameter of about 0.35 millimeters and the yarns 63 advantageously have a diameter of about 0.5 millimeters. The material of yarns 61, 62 and 63 may be, for example, polyamide, polyester, polypropylene or the like separately or in blends. The yarns 61 may also comprise a blend containing wool. The ball contacting or frictional surface 69 of textile belt 22 is shown as a web 67 of synthetic fiber needled to lower layer 65. Synthetic fibers such as nylon or the like, or blends of synthetic fibers with wool may comprise the web 67 of synthetic fibers needled in place.

The textile belt 22 is formed in the desired shape, i.e. arcuate with frictional surface 69 on the inside of the arc. The textile is saturated with a liquid polymeric resin mixture which, upon curing, will permanently set the fabric in the desired shape. Any polymeric resin may be employed which is characterized by its forming upon cure a hard surface and which renders the belt 22 stiff but resilient and elastic. Illustrative of such polymeric resins are liquid elastomeric compositions of polyurethane, polyepoxides, polyacrylics, polyvinyls, melamine-formaldehyde and like resins which cure to obtain hard elastic coatings. The preferred resin coated belts have a hardness of between about 50 and (Shore A).

The resin saturated fabrics preferably employed to fabricate the belts of the invention may be further characterized in that they generally possess a surface coefficient of friction between about 0.1 and 0.4. Preferred as a resin saturant to provide the desired coefficient of friction, stiffness, resiliency and elasticity is a polyurethane elastomeric saturant. Polyurethane elastomer saturants are well-known in the art as is their preparation and application; see for example Saunders et al., Polyurethanes: Chemistry and Technology, Part I and Part II, Interscience Pub., N.Y., N.Y. (1962).

The arc formed between the edges 42 of belt 22 as shown in FIG. 3 is an inside arc smaller than the arc of the bowling ball to be snubbed. This is clearly seen in FIG. 4 which shows a cross-sectional view across the lines 3-3 of FIG. 1 and the position of a bowling ball 18 as it approaches the ball contacting surface 69. The

American Bowling Congress has specified that a bowling ball have the following dimensions Maximum Minimum Circumference 27.002 26.704 Diameter 8.595" 8.500" Roundness .005 (total indicator reading .010)

Therefore, the are formed between the edges 42 of belt 22 may also be stated as being smaller than the arc of a circle having a circumference smaller than 26.704 inches when the belt is in its normal state; and the arc conforms to the arc of a circle having a circumference of from 26,704 inches to 27.002 inches when the belt is functioning to snub a bowling ball as herein described. As ball 18 continues to roll forward into the arcuate portion 52 of belt 22, the ball 18 forces ends 42 to diverge until the exte'nsiled arc permits full frictional surface contact between frictional surface 69 of belt 22 and ball 18. The elastic nature of the belt causes edges 42 to act like pincers in gripping ball 18 while the full surface 69 contact provides for snubbing the ball. In practice, the belt 22 efficiently decelerates the ball, grips-it and does not allow the ball to drop back along the ascending track 14 as described previously in conjunction with prior art belts. The ball 18 however is not gripped so tightly as to prevent its being propelled past the snubbing component as previously described.

The belt 22 may be fabricated in any length to fit any of the existing ball decelerating devices and may have a width within convenient limits. In general, the belts of the invention advantageously have a width of from about 4 to about 4%inches and most preferably have a width of from about 4 to about 5 inches. The thickness of the belt 22 is not critical, and generally the belt 22 may be conveniently fabricated to have a thickness of from about 0.12 to about 0.17 inches.

The preferred belts 22 of the invention will generally be of such dimension and materials to provide belts having an elongation at 400 lbs. (Method of instron elongation, 3 inch strip) of between about 1.0 and 3.0, most preferably about 1.0 to 2.0 and a non-returnable elongation (after 1 minute/400 lbs. to lbs. Method of residual elongation instron of between about 0.01 percent to about 0.5 percent and most preferably less than about 0.5 percent. The method of fabricating such belts of polymeric materials or of resin saturated fabrics is well-known to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is: 1. In an apparatus for decelerating a bowling ball travelling on a ball return track system by snubbing the ball between a ball engaging surface and a tensioned belt member, the improvement which comprises:

said belt member having a ball contacting surface which defines the inside arc of a circle having a circumference smaller than 26.704 inches when said belt is in its normal state; and which defines an arc conforming to the arc of a circle having a circumference of from 26.704 to 27.002 inches when functioning to snub said bowling ball; and

wherein the improved belt member is an elastic, resilient, resin saturated textile belt.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the improved belt member is fabricated of a nylon fabric, saturated with an elastomeric polyurethane resin.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said resin saturated textile belt is fabricated from a textile which comprises; a base structure of woven synthetic material comprised .of at least one filament to which there is needled a ball contacting surface layer comprising a web of synthetic fiber.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the resin is an elastomeric polyurethane resin.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said improved belt member is characterized in part by its having an elongation at 400 lbs (3 inch strip) of between about 10 and 3.0.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said improved belt member is characterized in part by a non-retumable elongation (after 1 minute/400 lbs. to 0 lbs.) of between about 0.01 percent to about 0.5 percent.

7. An article for snubbing round, moving articles which comprises:

a hard surfaced, resilient textile fabric body which comprises:

a. a base layer of woven synthetic material comprised of at least one filament;

b. a webb of synthetic fiber needled to said base layer;

c. a polymeric resin saturant; and

d. means for attaching said article at the ends thereof to a mount; said article having a generally rectangular shape, a thickness less than its width and a portion which follows an arcuate path from edge to edge across its width; the base layer being on the outside of the arced portion. 

1. In an apparatus for decelerating a bowling ball travelling on a ball return track system by snubbing the ball between a ball engaging surface and a tensioned belt member, the improvement which comprises: said belt member having a ball contacting surface which defines the inside arc of a circle having a circumference smaller than 26.704 inches when said belt is in its normal state; and which defines an arc conforming to the arc of a circle having a circumference of from 26.704 to 27.002 inches when functioning to snub said bowling ball; and wherein the improved belt member is an elastic, resilient, resin saturated textile belt.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the improved belt member is fabricated of a nylon fabric, saturated with an elastomeric polyurethane resin.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said resin saturated textile belt is fabricated from a textile which comprises; a base structure of woven synthetic material comprised of at least one filament to which there is needled a ball contacting surface layer comprising a web of synthetic fiber.
 4. An apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the resin is an elastomeric polyurethane resin.
 5. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said improved belt member is characterized in part by its having an elongation at 400 lbs (3 inch strip) of between about 1.0 and 3.0.
 6. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said improved belt member is characterized in part by a non-returnable elongation (after 1 minute/400 lbs. to 0 lbs.) of between about 0.01 percent to about 0.5 percent.
 7. AN ARTICLE FOR SNUBBING ROUND, MOVING ARTICLES WHICH COMPRISES: A HARD SURFACED, RESILIENT TEXTILE FABRIC BODY WHICH COMPRISES: A. A BASE LAYER OF WOVEN SYNTHETIC MATERIAL COMPRISED OF AT LEAST ONE FILAMENT, B. A WEBB OF SYNTHETIC FIBER NEEDLLED TO SAID BASE LAYER, C. A POLYMERIC RESIN SATURANT, AND D. MEANS FOR ATTACHING SAID ARTICLE AT THE ENDS THEREOF TO A MOUNT, SAID ARTICLE HAVING A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR SHAPE, A THICKNESS LESS THAN ITS WIDTH ANDA PORTION WHICH FOLLOWS AN ARCUATE PATH FROM EDGE TO EDGE ACROSS ITS WIDTH, THE BASE LAYER BEING ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE ARCED PORTION. 